


Belated

by HardPass



Series: Family Business [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Angaran therapy, F/M, I guess that means there's angst, Jaal is a hugger, Jaal meeting Scott, Kandros is a butt, Plot bunnies going wild, Ryder Twins - Freeform, Ryder is improving on her emotions so much!, Scott is recovering from the coma, Scott is surprisingly angsty, Slightly depressed Scott, That's probably gonna be a thing, Why am I suddenly shipping Kandros and Scott?, sassy ryder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-24 10:37:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10739985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HardPass/pseuds/HardPass
Summary: Ryder's met Jaal's family, but it occurred to her that she hasn't mentioned her relationship with the big, pink alien to her fresh-from-his-coma twin. Whoops! Time to correct that and put the two in the same room together so they can meet properly. Hugs to ensue.





	1. One

_He and Jaal should probably meet..._

 

 

Meetings with Tann inspired headaches like Ryder had never known. Not that meetings with Addison were any better. The only person in _Nexus_ Headquarters she actually liked was Kesh, but she couldn’t help but avoid her ever since events on the Salarian ark. Ryder made a stupid call, sacrificed krogan lives, and now she lived with the consequences high up on the shitlist of the people she trusted most. The whole business left a sour taste in her mouth and a nagging pain stretching up the back of her neck to spread across her skull.

“Ryder. Ryder! _Ryder_!”

She blinked, raising her eyes to Tann’s slitted eyes. “Huh?”

“Did you hear a word I said?”

“Were you still talking?”

Stupider things had come out of her mouth, she was sure, but at the moment, she couldn’t really think of any. She thought Tann was going to pop a vein in his head.

“Oh, I’m sorry, was this _inconveniencing_ you in some way?” he sneered, looming across his desk at her.

She folded her arms, cringing inwardly. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tann might be an obnoxious little pissbucket, but he was an obnoxious little pissbucket with clout.

“No. I’m sorry. I’m listening.”

“Very well.” He fell back, not quite pacified. “As I was saying…”

Her eyes glazed back over, but she forced herself to pay just enough attention not to be called back out. Thankfully, Tann had no interest in torturing her for longer than necessary. He wrapped up the meeting, likely to find someone to talk at who was better at pretending to listen than she was. Escaping his office at a quick clip, she rubbed the stiff muscles in the back of her neck in an effort to ease the headache that gripped her while she climbed into the tram to head to the medbay for her next errand.

Her palms started to sweat before she ever arrived, which as as stupid a physical response she had ever had at any impending conversation with her twin. They used to share everything, but ever since her mother’s death, she felt a distinctive rift between them. Scott had signed onto the Andromeda Initiative without ever consulting her, charging after their father headlong toward adventure and taking for granted that she would inevitably follow. Then, with his coma, she was forced to operate truly independently of him for the first time in her life. She’d gotten good at it, but she hadn’t yet found a way to level with him like they used to.

That ended today, no matter how belated it was.

Digging her palm into the muscles on the back of her neck, she marched into medops on the hunt for her brother.

 _“Scott is currently in the middle of physical therapy,”_ SAM provided when his bed proved empty.

“Oh, this should be good.”

She meandered her way to the therapy room where Scott labored on a treadmill. He had small weights on his wrists and ankles and scanners took his vitals at regular intervals. He wasn't running, but hiking determinedly at a steady clip, sweat matting his dark hair to his head like he'd been at it for a while.

As usual, her stomach twisted painfully when she saw him. His coma had wrecked his body. Scott had never been small. He was always tall, strapping, athletic, but the coma had melted away his muscle tone. He worked his skinny limbs feebly, struggling to get back to his former fitness.

“Dude, I could fit your tiny, little butt in the palm of my hand,” she teased, hopping up onto the adjacent treadmill and leaning against the sidebar as she watched. “We need to work on those glutes.”

He scowled over at her. “I used to run five miles a day, you know?”

“I know. You used to make fun of me because I hated running with you. You are sweating _so much_ right now.”

“Nut up or shut up, sis. Don't make me suffer alone. Don't just stand on that treadmill.

At one time, she would have ignored the challenge. Scott was always trying to drag her on his exploits toward physical fitness, and she usually did her best to weasel out of them. The last few years running security had finally changed that, but it wasn’t really until she took up the Pathfinder mantle that she began taking it seriously. Running on a treadmill sounded nice, actually. Easy. No mountainous terrain. Breathable air. No kett to pop out and shoot at her.

Shrugging, she turned and keyed it on, tossing her jacket to the ground between them. “You're on. I bet I can do a mile before you can do another half.”

“Can you do even do a full mile? You used to bail on our runs the second I quit paying attention to go get tea and muffins.”

“You kidding? I've done nothing but trek, hike, and fight since I got saddled with this whole Pathfinder gig. I've got abs, Scott. Abs! Real ones!” she bragged.

The treadmill adjusted to her pace. A mile was no longer a work of labor. She didn’t set into a quick pace, recognizing that she probably ought to warm up before she pushed it. Lexi would kill her if she strained something trying to outdo her atrophied twin.

“I feel useless here, you know,” he huffed after she got her stride. “I even went to Kandros this week to beg him to give me a desk job coordinating APEX strike teams or something.”

“That's great! That's a perfect use of your skills until you can get back on your game.”

“Yeah. Well. He turned me down.”

She almost tripped. “He what? Why?”

He scowled straight ahead, gritting out through loabored breaths, “Said it wasn't his job to make me feel useful again. He's not wrong.”

“Yes. He is,” she snapped. “SAM, get hold of Kandros for me.”

_“Right away, Pathfinder.”_

“Hey, wait, no!” Scott cried. “I don't need my sister to bully people into being nice to me. Please. Let it go.”

She ignored him. The screen on her omnitool opened and Kandros appeared. She didn't change pace, fueled by rage. As if things weren't hard enough for her brother, and either she burned off her aggression on the treadmill, or she marched down to HQ and picked a fight with a turian.

“What do you need, Pathfinder?”

“What the fuck, Kandros?”

“Pathfinder?” He seemed more annoyed than taken back by her ire.

“How many favors have I done for you? How many times have I dropped everything to accommodate your requests? Gone out of my way to make your job easier? You couldn't even do one little thing in return? You can take your next request and shove it up your ass.”

He folded his arms. “Your brother tattled to you, didn't he?”

“You bet. Give him a damn job.”

“It's not my job to pander to the Ryder family.”

“You think I can't make your life hell? Because I can make your life hell. Scott is overqualified for a desk position with you. He's been _on_ those goddamn strike teams! He knows what it takes to get people home alive. He's smart, he's dedicated, and you are going to do this because I'm asking you to do it!”

“I don't need him. I have a full team in place already.”

“Then it shouldn't be a problem to allocate a few jobs to him until he gets on his feet.”

“No.”

“I will come down there and fight you!”

“With what? Your fists?”

“No, with my ankles. Yes with my fists! And then I'll start bitching. I'll bitch to Kesh. I'll bitch to Tann. I'll bitch to Addison. I'll bitch to Keri T’Vassa. I'll bitch to Davis Qar. I won't just make your life hell, I'll make their lives hell, so you’ll have all of us crawling up your ass.”

“So you're blackmailing me? You're better than that, Ryder,” he drawled.

“I'm actually not. You have no idea of the depths of my pettiness.”

He glared, weighing whether she was bluffing or not. Ryder could have cheerfully reached through the screen and throttled him. Scott watched on in amazement, as if she was a completely different person.

“Fine. Have him report at 0800 tomorrow morning.”

“You're the best, Kandros.”

“You're the worst, Ryder.”

She ended the call and charged into the second half of her mile, reassessing her relationship with the turian. She always felt like she and Kandros had a pretty good rapport, especially since she busted her ass whenever he asked anything of her. The dickhole owed her. Who was he to turn down any request, much less a reasonable one?

“Who even are you?” Scott asked, hitting the pause button on his treadmill and calling it quits.

“I thought we had a bet, pansy. Pussing out already?”

“Did you just seriously browbeat Tiran Kandros into doing your bidding?”

She also stopped her treadmill, hopping off while Scott eased over to a bench to catch his breath and remove the weights from his limbs. It was clear he had already pushed past what he was capable of, making her wonder where the hell Harry was to force him to take it easy when he’d already hit his limit.

“You always told me to play to my strengths. Mine was always to be a pain in the ass. Now, I'm a pain in the ass with the clout of a Pathfinder. Kind of nice that people hop when I start snapping off orders.” She swiped a towel off a nearby rack and dropped down next to him on the bench, slapping the towel across his face.

Scott swatted her away, but accepted the towel to mop up his head and neck. “I regret everything. Why are you bothering me, anyway? Don’t you have a path to find somewhere?”

She grimaced slight. “Ah. Yeah. I have a reason, actually.”

“Should I be worried?”

“Nope. I just...it’s awkward. Because we have never kept secrets from each other.”

He arched his eyebrows, leaning over with his forearms across his thighs. “You're keeping secrets?”

“Not intentionally.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “But things happened while you were in your coma, and you weren’t around to talk to when it was all going on. Then when you woke up, you were focused on recovering. By then, it had all just kind of become commonplace. I was used to handling it all on my own. But that's now how we live, right? We tell each other everything.”

He nodded, brow fused together. “All right. Shoot. Catch me up, sis. What things have I missed out on with you?”

She grinned then, feeling stupid. She had never had to come clean to Scott before. They just _talked_.

“I fell in love,” she finally blurted.

“I'm sorry, _what_?”

“I fell in love. I'm in love. I've been dating him for a while now, and it's serious. I'm serious. With him,” she blurted.

He gaped at her. “With him? With who? How am I just now hearing about this? Do you even know what love is? You've never been in love.”

“I know! It's crazy. Trust me, I know how utterly insane it is. Things just got out of hand. I didn't even see it happening until it hit me in the face.”

“ _Who_?” he pressed.

“Jaal.”

Scott reared back. “The caped crusader? The guy you described as 'Pink Batman?’ That guy?”

“That guy.”

“Holy shit. I have...so many questions.”

“You want to know about his penis?” she guessed dryly.

“I _really_ want to know.”

“It’s penis-shaped enough for my purposes. Also, bioelectricity. _Holy shit_.” She laughed, scrubbing a hand down her face. This felt right, unloading all of it at last. She’d never had so much as a flirtation without gossipping to Scott about it. “But overall, it’s been really good for me. I’m learning how to be open with my emotions, if you can believe that, which, apparently is super healthy. At least according to Lexi.”

“Go figure.” He reached out and gave her a sweaty side-hug. “Hey, if you’re happy, I’m happy.” The look turned sly, “Bioelectricity, huh?”

“Oh, my god, I can’t even describe to you what a fucking phenomenon it is. Unfortunately, we have to use it sparingly. We overdid it one time and I couldn’t feel anything below the waist for nearly a day.”

“All right, I think that’s more detail than I needed.” He looped the towel around the back of his neck. “Start from the beginning, now. Rewind. It’s just after we arrive in Helius. I’m in a coma, you’re hunting vaults, and the angara insist you have one of their guys on your ship to keep an eye on you. I assume it wasn’t love at first sight.”

She let out a long exhale with a small shake of her head. “Oh, shit no. He didn’t trust me at all. He was already skeptical of our races in general, but I’d just lost Dad, you were comatose, and I was making hard, life-and-death decisions on the daily. At that point, I’d shut down. I’m sure you’ve heard it, but angara are really emotive. If they have a feeling, they’ll tell you about it. At that time, I was raw, I was scared, and I was hiding the fuck out of it behind a lethal dose of sarcasm. So, that earned me zero favors. I don’t blame him for not trusting me at that time. He says he thought I was basically hiding nefarious plans like a mustache-twiddling cartoon villain.”

Scott snorted and nudged her. “I can see that. But you weren’t hiding an evil plot. You were hiding a gooey, oozing, marshmallow center.”

She spread her hands. “And when he realized that, that’s when he started to fall in love with me. As for _me_ , I don’t know when it happened. I flirted with him shamelessly, sure, right from the beginning. He was a pink alien with a great cape and I was an emotional cripple with daddy issues. I was smitten from the start.”

He rolled his eyes.

“And...I don’t know. He never bullshitted me, which was a weird and disorienting and surprisingly refreshing. One day, I just...kind of...vomited my feelings at him. And he told me he felt the same. And things kind of snowballed from there. Took us a long time to have sex, but he didn’t want to rush things. I think he was still getting to know me at that point. The real me. Not the bullshit me.”

“I’m kind of jealous. I’ve only ever known the bullshit you,” he teased. “So you’re telling me you fell in love with him and _then_ started sleeping with him? Like how normal people do relationships?”

“Weird. I know.”

“I didn’t peg you as the type,” he confessed, digging an elbow into her. “But seriously, whatever. I meant it. If you’re happy, I’m happy.” He paused a beat. “Don’t angarans have, like, massive families?”

“Yes. And I’ve met them. They’re disgustingly lovely. I adore his mother. It’s sickening.”

Scott laughed into his hand. “Oh, shit, sis, you’ve got it bad.”

“Yep.”

“So when do I get to meet him?”

The corners of her lips lifted. “Um, now?”

“Now? Can I shower first?” He made a point of tucking his nose against his armpit and inhaling deeply. Grinning, she stood from the bench and went to retrieve her jacket. “There’s a juice bar that’s just opened up just outside hydroponics. Supposed to be a coffee bar someday, lord willing and the creek don’t rise. Just need somewhere to start farming enough coffee beans for regular distribution. Meet you there in an hour?”

He also stood, much slower and wobblier than she did. Her stomach did its usual twisting. She had to remind herself that he was getting stronger, and that in a few months he would be back to pumping out five miles a day and throwing down to kick ass whenever he wanted. Impatience, especially coming from her, served no purpose. She was lucky to get him back at all.

“You might have to go flex that Pathfinder clout you’re bragging about with Harry. I’m supposed to do meditation in an hour. And before you say it, yes this whole mind-body-soul healing shit is going to send me right back into the coma. Unfortunately, it’s not like I can run away. Not yet, at least,” he grumbled.

Grinning, she said, “SAM, can you get hold of Harry for me?”

_“Of course, Pathfinder.”_

“Does he always call you that?” Scott asked.

“Sometimes he calls me ‘Ryder.’”

“Does anyone call you by your first name?”

Her first name. Most days, she forgot it even existed.

“Nope.” She popped the “P.”

“Jaal?”

“I’m not even sure he knows it.”

By then, SAM patched her through to Harry. “What do you need, Ryder?” he grumbled, looking, well, harried. Which was an excellent pun, and one she stashed away for later use.

“I need to borrow my brother this afternoon to meet my boyfriend. He’s going to have to miss yoga.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “You’re getting a little too used to snapping off orders, aren’t you?”

“Yep.” She popped the “P” again. “Now, either we can argue about it, or you can let Scott do some super mentally healthy family bonding time. Also, just FYI, I got him a job with Kandros. Should also be mentally healthy. Jobs give people purpose. Purpose will help improve his health.”

He folded his arms. “And what if I refuse to sign off on it?”

“I have SAM hack his way in and change your signature. But let’s not fight, Harry. I’m on a tight schedule. Busy saving the system, and all,” she reminded him heavily.

“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“I resent that. I’m a _professional_ pain in the ass.”

“He’s yours for the afternoon, but I’ll be having a word with Kandros.”

“Love you, Harry!” She made a kissy face at him until he cut off the transmission. Turning to Scott, she said, “I’ll meet you in an hour?”

He nodded curtly. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

Ryder left him, then, reaching up behind her shoulders to rub the knotted muscles to find them much more relaxed. Huh. Maybe Lexi was onto something when she advised her to deal with her anxieties, rather than avoid them. Go figure.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott meets Jaal...and it doesn't go as well as Ryder had hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got way more angsty than I anticipated. Yeah. That happened. Kind of an unusual tone for my stuff, but I guess we'll roll with it. Scott's just got some issues to work through. THANK GOODNESS FOR ANGARAN THERAPY.
> 
> ALSO. Ryder gets a first name! Because it occurred to me I hadn't mentioned it yet, but there's no way Scott would call her anything but her name.

His sister had gone insane.

Scott knew it was always bound to happen, but that it should happen this way came as a little bit of a shock. Coming to Andromeda hadn’t been easy for her, and he always assumed it would take her time to settle in and find her purpose. To convince her to come, he painted a picture of her living on a beautiful new planet nobody had ever traversed. He told her she build a house, plant a garden, and spend each morning watching a brand new sunrise over a nice, hot, cup of tea. Because that was who she was. 

Instead, she had become the Pathfinder, forcibly correcting and preparing each world for settlement, striking alliances, fighting a war, and giving anyone who got in her way a big middle finger. And somehow, amidst all of that, she had time to fall in love. His sister. The same woman who was better at weaseling out of a relationship than most people were at regulating their breathing. The fact that it was with a big, pink alien was about the only thing that didn’t come as a surprise. She’d always been a bit of a xenophile. 

He took his time getting to the meeting spot. It wasn’t like him to take advantage of his atrophied muscles for the handicap, but he had to admit, he was nervous. This wasn’t the first time she had introduced him to a boyfriend or girlfriend, but usually during their conversations she made it clear that he better meet them sooner rather than later, because she was ready to move on. 

So who the hell was this guy? What set him apart from her other romances? Aside from the cape, of course.

The juice bar she wanted to meet in had the traditional layout of a coffee shop. Small tables scatters around an intimate dining room with room for two to four people, maximum. Planters overflowed with earth plants, mostly ferns and flowers, adding freshness to the room. A single barista occupied the counter and a neon menu advertised drinks, mostly teas and smoothies, although a little announcement at the bottom indicated they were looking for coffee suppliers. Everyone on the Nexus looked forward to the day when farms started churning out enough coffee beans to support local businesses. The coffee stocks they had brought along for the journey was running desperately low and he hated to think what the black market price for a cup of beans went for. Recovering from his coma without real coffee had been the next thing to hell. 

His sister had already gotten a table and ordered drinks. She sat next to a large, angaran male. Jaal wore his rofjinn and eyepiece, which was not unlike a monocle. A still healing scar marked across his right cheek and an old scar had cut a cleft into his cowl on the left side. He was more magenta than pink. Scott wasn't sure if that was better or worse. 

She noticed him first, clutching her teacup in both hands as she brought it up to her lips, which curved up a little smugly. Jaal followed her line of gaze, jumping out of his chair as soon as he spotted him. 

“Scott Ryder!” he cried in a deep boom. 

Before he could confirm or deny the allegation, the alien had descended upon him and swept him into a full, unrestrained embrace. 

“Oh. Hi. We're hugging. I see,” he spluttered, standing rigidly. 

At least Jaal smelled nice. 

“It is good to finally meet you!” He set him back, beaming. “Ryder talks about you so much. Mostly good things. Some, I can't tell if she's kidding or not.” He had a voice like a baritone purr. Deep. Melodic. 

“I'm sure it's all true,” he replied dazedly, making his way to a chair and sitting gratefully. His feeble muscles all sighed in relief, as they usually did when he offered them a break. 

His sister pushed a cup toward him. “I ordered for you. It's mostly Helius imports, so I doubt you know half of it.”

“How does the Vortex already have a supply of beer and we're stuck slurping down anonymous smoothies?”

“Because somebody prioritized alcohol over caffeine, and honestly, I can't blame them. It's good, though. You'll like it.” She stood then, leaning down to brush a kiss to Jaal and left her tea on the table. “So you two play nice while I'm gone.” 

“What, you're going?” And leaving him trapped one-on-one with her boyfriend. 

She stepped around the table and also kissed him on his prickly, unshaven cheek. “I have Pathfinder shit to get done before we leave and I’m sure you have embarrassing stories to tell I’d rather not relive. Love you both.”

He tried to protest, but she ignored him and made her escape, leaving him in the clutches of the grinning angaran and at the mercy of whatever beverage she had ordered for him. Why hadn't he insisted on doing this at Vortex? He'd have preferred a stronger drink. 

Jaal didn't seem as perturbed. Did he ever stop smiling?

“I have been looking forward to this. When Ryder told me about the size of her family, I thought she was lying to me. To only have one sibling! But you two are close. She worried endlessly while you were asleep.”

Scott held up a hand to beg for a pause. “Hang on. Do you seriously call her 'Ryder?’”

“It's what she asked me to call her. Why?”

“Because it's weird! Nobody here calls her by her name. Do you even know it?” 

“It...uh...starts with a C.”

“Caroline. Her name is Caroline. Everyone calls her Carrie. Or, they used to.”

“That's...very pretty. Why doesn't she use it?” he mused. 

“You know her better than I do.” He blurted it without meaning to, and with much more vinegar than be intended. Scott usually kept a tighter lid on things, but nothing about this was right. Carrie didn't keep secrets from him. Carrie didn't chew out authority figures until they bent to her whims. Carrie didn't have deep, meaningful relationships. Carrie was a trashfire, and she needed Scott to keep her grounded. 

At least she used to. 

Jaal leaned back in his chair, smile gone, one hand resting on the table between them. “You disapprove.”

Shit. She was going to  _ murder _ him for fucking up in under a minute. “No, no! That’s not what I meant. This isn't about you.”

“I know that look. That's the same expression  _ she _ gets when she doesn't want to talk about her feelings.”

He exhaled forcefully. “Look, man, I'm happy she's got you.”

“Ah, I see now she's also a better liar.”

He drummed his fingers on his thigh, too agitated to try to salvage the disaster of a first  meeting. “I'm serious. Congratu-fucking-lations. But I'm still playing catch-up here. She used to tell me everything. We had each other. We got each other. Now...I don't even know her.”

“I get that. I have spent much of my life seeing my siblings go off and succeed at whatever they try. It's a terrible feeling, to feel inadequate in comparison.” 

“I don’t feel inadequate!” he cried. 

Jaal pressed his lips in a disapproving line. “Fine. You don’t feel inadequate. How do you feel, then?” 

“Fine.” 

“You said that.” 

“It’s still true.” 

“Is it?” 

The angaran was messing with him, but Scott floundered to escape the trap. “What do you want me to say?” 

“Hmm.” 

“‘Hmm?’ What does ‘Hmm?’ mean?” 

Jaal didn’t quite smile, the corners of his cheeks twitched like he meant to. “It means that I spent almost every waking second for months alongside Ryder before I worked my way past her guard, and that I should have known better than to expect immediate honesty from you. You’re very much alike.” He set his hands together on top of the table and straightened his shoulders. “So.” 

“So?” he echoed, folding his skinny arms across his skinny chest, kicking himself for ever agreeing to this meeting before fully thinking through how he felt about Carrie no longer confiding in him like she used to. Later, he was going to need a surgical extraction of his foot from his mouth, and, likely, a surgical extraction of Carrie’s foot from his ass. 

Jaal spent a moment studying him with his unnerving blue eyes, although he couldn’t say what the alien saw. He began to script his apology to his sister in his head. He was going to have to admit his epic dumbassery, blame the coma on his brain damage, and grovel for forgiveness. This meeting meant so much to her. Why couldn’t he just suck it up and lock his emotions down for five goddamn minutes while he pretended to care about getting to know her guy?

“It must be hard,” Jaal finally said. “That she’s had other priorities while you were recovering from your coma.” 

And if that didn’t cut down to his very soul, Scott didn’t know what would. He wasn’t ready to deal with that area of tenderness just yet. 

“You think you have me figured out, then?” 

Jaal leaned back in his chair, gaze level. “Clearly not. Why don’t we move on? What should we talk about instead?” 

Tension leaked out of him as the angaran backed off the topic. He wasn’t ready to tackle any of this crap, especially how he felt about Carrie blowing him off to go save the galaxy. Sure, he got it. She was Pathfinder. She had duties. That didn’t take away the sting of abandonment or curdle of jealousy. 

Provided an out, he grasped for the first topic change his brain could spit out at him. “How did you two meet? I’m a little fuzzy on the details. I just know you were assigned to her ship to make sure the Initiative didn’t screw your people over like the kett did.” 

“Not technically true. I volunteered for the position. The  _ Tempest _ showed up on Aya damaged and desperate--and unwelcome. Evfra almost opened fire on them.” He smiled. “Ryder came off alone to negotiate. I found her irreverent and sarcastic. I didn’t like her.” 

The story matched up to what his sister told him. Not exactly love at first sight. 

The alien continued. “She hid much of herself. Only later did I realize how much pain she was in. An angaran would have exposed those wounds, but Ryder, as you probably know, does not like people to see her when she’s hurt. Learning her was a...unique experience. I discovered who she was by watching her actions. She claimed disinterest in anyone or anything, but she pushed herself to the limits for every member of her team. She went sleepless days and nights, risked mind and body, and never once passed a stranger in need. She is generous, your sister, and kind, and loving, but she would deny all of it. The night she finally allowed me to see her true soul was the night you came out of your coma. She finally exposed her pain to me and wept in my arms, so overwhelmed with relief she couldn’t stand it. Up until that point, she never spoke of you beyond the basics. Never shared stories or anecdotes. Not because she was uncaring, but because she couldn’t face the agony of your loss. That is who your sister is, and that is why I love her.” 

Scott was silent for a long while, pretty sure he was the jackass of this whole situation. If he had any decency, he would keep his shit to himself. It wasn’t Carrie’s fault he was injured. It wasn’t her fault she was the Pathfinder. This anger, this frustration that she no longer needed him, it wasn’t worth ripping apart what little relationship they had left. He scrubbed a tired hand down his face and shook his head. Every time he spoke, he made things worse. Maybe it was time to just shut up. 

“What do you want, Scott?” Jaal asked in that liquid baritone, eyes holding level. 

“If I don’t say anything, are you going to give me the answer anyway?” 

He snorted. “Maybe.” 

“All right, then shoot. What do I want, Jaal?” 

“You want your sister back. Like how it was. Before Andromeda. Back when she needed you. Before she found her independence as Pathfinder.” 

He threw up his hands. “I don’t know why I’m even bothering to talk in this conversation.” 

“You don’t trust me. You don’t know me. You need to talk to your sister about how you feel, though.” 

“Why? What good does that do, other than make her guilty that she…” 

“Left you behind?” he supplied. 

His gut twisted painfully. “Easy for you to say.” 

“As I told you before, I had many older siblings that found fame and success. I was never one of them. I could never live up to that standard.” 

“You seem to be doing fine,” he grunted, feeling particularly unsympathetic. 

Jaal’s lips twitched upward again. “I found something I’m good at and a team I work well with. Apparently, I just had to wait for the Initiative species to finish crossing darkspace before I was able to fulfil my purpose.” 

“But what good does talking do? This isn’t her problem.” 

“Ryder takes on a lot of problems that aren’t her own. This is one problem that, arguably, might actually belong to her. I know that she misses you. Why do you think she took the time today to break down the barriers that have grown up between you since you arrived?” 

Scott would deny he pouted to the end of time, but his lip puckered slightly and he slouched down in his chair, feeling miserable. 

“You and I don’t have to like each other, but you do need to talk honestly with Ryder--Caroline,” Jaal amended. 

“Maybe I’ll let her lead that conversation, since she’s gotten all the practice about expressing her emotions lately.” 

And that about topped the list of idiot sounding things he's said that day. Emotions sucked. The angarans--especially this one--were going to be the death of him. He scowled harder and sank lower in his chair. 

“You're important to her,” the alien said. “Speak to her. She wants to put things right with you. Let her.”

“You are super annoying. But, maybe in a good way. Maybe.” 

Grabbing the drink Carrie ordered him, he finally took a measured sip, but slammed the cup back down away from him. It was so tart it made his mouth pucker, which was when he knew he'd been had. Carrie knew how much he hated sour things. No wonder she beat a hasty retreat! 

“Ugh, she did that on purpose!” 

Jaal fought a smile. “I've been instructed to report back on your facial expression. She was right. Well worth ten credits.”

He shoved the glass away from him. “Conniving little menace.” 

“So you’ll talk to her?”

“Going to have to, aren’t I? And I’m going to have to get her back for the shitty drink, which will never happen if we don’t work it out. Ugh.” 

Jaal sat back in his chair, looking annoyingly smug. 

“You do this mind-voodoo on everyone you meet?” Scott complained. 

“I don’t really know what that means.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” He sighed and sucked up his pride to smooth things between them. “Hey, we’re cool, right? I’m sure you’re…” God, he hated putting these things into real words. “...really great for Carrie. If she’s happy, say no more. That’s all I need to hear.” 

“Thank you, Scott. That means a lot.” 

“Maybe next time we can try a better venue. Maybe the Vortex? Then we can at least bond over whatever shitty beer they’re selling.” 

“Yes, I would like that.” 

That seemed a good enough signal as any that he could leave, so he stood from his chair to beat a retreat and wallow in his misery by himself for a while. Jaal also stood, rounding the table before he could object and pulled him into a firm hug. 

“Oh. We’re hugging again. Splendid.” 

Either the alien ignored or didn’t pick up on his sarcasm. The hug dragged on uncomfortably. Was there a polite way to wiggle out of awkward hugs? He decided to suck it up and wait it out. He was pretty sure he’d maxed out how much he was allowed to offend his sister’s boyfriend in a single sitting. The hug couldn’t last forever. Could it?

From somewhere behind him, he heard an excited squeak that sounded suspiciously like Carrie. 

“Oh, you’re hugging again! That’s so cute!” 

He groaned, but at least Jaal released him at that point. The alien turned and strode to her, pausing just long enough to pass a few words. 

“How’d it go?” she asked, eyes bright. 

“Terribly.” 

Her brows snapped together. “What? Seriously?” 

“You two need to talk. I’ll meet you back at the ship.” Over his shoulder, he said with absolute sincerity, “I’m so glad to have finally met you, Scott. Next time, we’ll do the Vortex.” Then he strode out. 

Carrie whirled on him when her boyfriend was out of earshot. “Terribly?” she hissed. 

He fidgeted, eyes turned down. “Yeah...that was my fault.” 

“What the fuck happened?” 

Sighing, he gestured back to the table. “Can we sit? This isn’t going to be one of those short conversations, I think.” 

She joined him. “What did you tell him?” 

“I might have been a little salty that he seems to know you better than I do these days. And before you bitch me out, I know I handled it bad. It’s just, you sprung all of this on me at once and I temporarily lost my mind. And  _ he _ thinks I should tell you how I feel, and I guess he has a point…” 

“Oh no,” she interrupted, hand raising to her mouth. “Oh, Scott. I’m so sorry. You got angaran therapy’d.” 

He raised his eyebrows. “Come again?” 

“Don’t worry, it happened to all of us. They have this way of getting under your skin and making you start talking about the things you don’t want to talk about. The rest of us got hit with it at some point. Jaal doesn’t really shy away from uncomfortable topics. And I bet it went about as well as it did with me the first time he started poking at sore spots.” She reached across the table and set her hand over his. 

“I don’t like it.” 

“I didn’t either.” 

“It’s super annoying.” 

“It really is.” She gave his hand a little squeeze. “You want to talk about it?”

“Want? No. But you’ll probably just harp on me until I do, so I might as well get it over with,” he sighed. 

She edged a smile out of him. “Come on. What are older sisters for?”

“Older by, like, a minute.” 

“It counts.” 

The bickering helped him relax into habit. This was more like how it had always been with them. Scott braced himself and unloaded. He told her everything. He told her how he hated that she was off on the adventure that was supposed to be his, how he hated his weak body, how he hated that she often forgot about him, and how he hated feeling useless. All in all, it wasn’t the worst conversation they ever had. Sure, Carrie couldn’t actually  _ fix _ any of his complaints, but getting them out in the open felt pretty good. She was less offended by everything he said than he ever thought she would be. 

Eventually, she walked him back to the medbay to drop him back off into Harry’s clutches, but they covered a lot of ground in their conversation heading over there. For the first time since waking up, Scott kind of felt like he had his sister back. At least now they caught up to where they should have been. As long as they kept in touch going forward, he would have nothing to worry about. Theoretically. 

“Hey, would you make sure Jaal knows I thought he was pretty okay. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a complete asshole.” 

“Oh, honey.” She hugged him quickly. “That’s just because you acted like one.” 

He shoved her off. “Oh go on. There has to be someone better on this station you can bother instead of me for a while.” 

She stepped away. “Oh, that reminds me, I talked some more with Kandros and he is still expecting you to show up tomorrow morning.” 

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he promised. “Christ, I hope this is the last time my sister has to pull strings to get me a job.” 

“Yeah, me too. He’s being such a butt about it, as if I haven’t done him a million favors before.” She rolled her eyes and rocked back toward the exit. “So take advantage, because I’m super annoyed with him now.” 

He shot off a lazy salute. “Yes, sir, Pathfinder.” 

She blew a kiss and left the medbay, putting him back at the mercy of Dr. Carlyle’s clutches. The doctor made him sit so he could take his vitals and assess his function. The usual gamut. He’d been poked and prodded nonstop since waking up. 

“Come on, do we have to do this? I survived an entire hour out of the medbay and didn’t die.  _ After _ a full exercise. I have to be close to being discharged,” he whined. 

“We’ll see how you do handling a small workload from Kandros and if you have any more dizzy spells. If all goes well...then maybe a week, although I still want weekly checkups and daily physical therapy.” Harry glanced up from the scan results. “How did it go with Jaal?” 

“Pretty sure he hates me, actually.” 

“Did he say so?” 

“No.” 

“Then he doesn’t hate you. He wouldn’t stay silent, from what Lexi has told me about him. He’s not subtle.” 

Scott eyed the doctor suspiciously. “Did you know? About him and Carrie. Did Lexi tell you?” 

“Not directly, although she and I have had many discussions about human-angaran intercourse lately and she’s used my equipment to run some tests. I couldn’t assume which one of the humans on board the  _ Tempest _ might be facilitating the need to study the topic.” 

He scowled. “Yeah, I’ll skip those discussions, thanks. Are we done?” 

“Go rest.” 

Scott fled gratefully, heading to his little cubicle he’d been more-or-less trapped in since he woke up. All it contained was a single bed and a fuckton of equipment. All of the machines they used to keep him alive until he woke up. He looked forward to being transferred to one of the Nexus apartments where he could get some real privacy and some emotional distance between himself and the machinery. 

At least he had something to look forward to, now. Several things. Working with APEX, a closer relationship with his twin, and maybe, in a week, a move out of medical, and maybe, just maybe, his life in Andromeda could finally get going. 

**Author's Note:**

> Working on chapter two. Not quite sure how it's going to go. What is even plotting? *moonwalks into the distance*


End file.
